The Wind To His Fire
by PlatformNineAndThreeQuarters
Summary: 'Did the teme just send him a smile? ' 'Was that a compliment? ' 'Why is he being so nice? ' Naruto just can't figure out what is wrong with Sasuke. Time Travel.
1. Redefining Team 7

Uchiha Sasuke had many regrets in his life, greatest of them being killing his brother. However, on that particular day, he was seething about another regret of his - leaving Konoha and hurting Naruto. He was sure that if he hadn't done that, the dobe would not be marrying Hyuuga Hinata.

Sasuke was the person Naruto cared the most for. The usratonkachi had trained for years, for the sole purpose of bringing Sasuke back to Konoha. Even when Sasuke had been lost in darkness and was actually trying to kill him, he never let the thought of ending his life enter his mind. He kept Sasuke's forehead protector for years, waiting to give it back to him.

No, if Sasuke had not left Konoha, the dobe would have been his, not Hinata's.

Sasuke had recieved the invitation to Naruto's weddding from a toad four weeks ago, following which he had intentionally chosen a path taking him away from Konoha. He couldn't bear to go and watch Naruto get married to that woman. He had sent a note bearing his congratulations via a hawk, knowing that Naruto would be hurt if he didn't atleast acknowledge his happy day.

He wasn't sure what would have happened had he actually went back to Konoha and tried to convince Naruto to leave Hinata for him. Even though there was a slight chance that the dobe would agree, he didnt want to risk it.

If only he had the realization of his love for Naruto a few years earlier... If onlyy he could go back in time...

Suddenly, he felt an immense pressure behind his eyes, not unlike the activation of his Mangekyou Sharingan. However, the pain progressed to a much higher intensity, finally reaching a peak when Sasuke passed out.

When he gained consciousness, Sasuke immidietly felt that something was wrong. His body didn't feel akin to the one he was used to, but smaller, weaker. He was lying on a futon instead of the forest floor where he had decided to rest (rest, not brood, the Uchiha didn't brood).

Not sensing any chakra in close proximity, he cautiously opend his eyes and looked around, finding himself in replica of the apartment he had occupied after the massacre of his clan and before the chunnin exams. It couldn't be the same apartment since it had been destroyed during the Sand-Sound Invasion. If it was a genjutsu, it was precisely woven as he could't notice any discrepancies. He activated his Mangekyou Sharingan. When nothing changed, he was forced to acknowledge that it wasn't a genjutsu.

He walked up to the mirror and noticed that the body he was currently occupying bore great resemblance to the one he owned when he was 13. Upon further inspection it was revealed that his Rinnegan was gone.

Glancing out of the window he noticed the Hokage Mountain currently adorning only four faces, instead of the six it should.

All of it pointed towards only one possible solution. Somehow Sasuke had ended up back in time. Coincidently, it was the exact same thing he was wishing for, before his Sharingan mysteriously acted up.

Time travlling wasn't such a bizarre concept for him after everything he had been through. Maybe it was fate's way of repaying him back for the shitty hand he had been dealt with. He could work with this.

All he had to do was to make the usratonkachi fall in love with him again.

And save his brother. After kicking his ass

* * *

To say that Naruto was excited, would be equivalent of saying that jiji was a bit old. His heart was close to bursting with happiness as he was finally a ninja of Konoha ( after 3 failed attempts, but who counted them?), and one step closer to his dream of becoming Hokage.

Naruto entered the classroom in high spirits, eager to join his new team with whom he would be saving princesses in no time. He didn't even mind when Shikamaru questioned his presence there. After all, how was he supposed to know that Naruto had been granted promotion in such an awesome way.

He had just sat down next to the teme when Sakura-chan and Ino entered the room, fighting over who would get to sit next to Sasuke. Really, what did they see in him?

He was pretty sure that Sakura-chan was going to push him out of the seat when the teme spoke, "I don't wish to sit with any of you. You're both annoying. And don't push Naruto. He was already sitting here when you arrived."

The crickets chirped.

Naruto gaped at Sasuke, trying to figure out what he was playing at. Did he want Sakura-chan to hate Naruto because her Sasuke-kun made her cry over the seat he was occupying?

He was about the shout at the teme to apologize to Sakura-chan when Iruka-sensei arrived.. He gave a boring ass lecture and started announcing teams. And as luck would have it, Naruto and Sakura-chan were in the same team as the teme.

After Iruka-sensei dismissed them for lunch, Naruto was going to follow Sasuke to beat him up for making Sakura-chan cry, but the teme surprised him by saying, "If you come with me, I'll treat you at Ichiraku's." before dramatically walking away.

Naruto who considered ramen sacred followed him without questions, though he gave him a fare warning of dismemberment, if this turned out to be a joke.

They reached Ichiraku's, and Naruto quickly took up his seat, "The usual Teuchi-san. Teme is paying."

"Mind your language, Naruto. What can I get for you, Uchiha-san?" Teuchi-san asked Sasuke.

"One bowl of what Naruto is having. Thank you." he answered, politely.

After inhaling one bowl of ramen and while waiting for the second, Naruto turned towards Sasuke, "So, teme, what do you want? Need to get someone pranked?"

"No, I just want to have lunch with you."

That raised Naruto's hackles. "Really? What are you playing at?"

He sighed. "I wish to get to know you more, Naruto, as a teammate."

Naruto scoffed. "What about Sakura-chan, then? Why did you leave her at the academy?"

"Sakura isn't at the academy. She is right there, behind that tree."

Naruto looked at where Sasuke was pointing. Huh, she really was there. "I really don't understand girls. Hinata stalks me a lot too."

Sasuke looked shocked at that. "You know about that?"

"Of course. I'm not an idiot, ya know. " he said, scowling.

"Oh. What do you think about that, then? About Hinata stalking you?" The teme asked.

"What's there to think about? I know she is a girl but I wouldn't let her rob me."

"Rob you?"

"Yeah, that's why she's stalking me, right? To get a perfect opportunity to rob me. I've got quite a lot saved up in Gama-chan."

Naruto didn't know why Sasuke started banging his head against the counter.

* * *

Kakashi observed his genin team as they quickly settled down on the roof of the Shinobi Academy. His jonin senses were screaming at him that something wrong with the picture in front of him, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it was.

The three genin were behaving exactly as they should- Sakura was mooning over Sasuke and glaring at Naruto, Naruto was trying to impress Sakura and scowling at Sasuke and Sasuke was brooding.

"Why don't you all introduce yourself?"

"What's the point? You've already read our files and we've already acquainted ourselves with each over time you generously gave us." Sasuke bit out.

"You three don't know about me." Kakashi countered.

"Were you going to tell us?" Sasuke shot back.

He had a point there. But Kakashi couldn't let a genin win, could he?

"I might have. Now you have lost your team vital information for the genin test tomorrow."

He waited for the expected gasps but only received them from Naruto and Sakura, while Sasuke looked coolly at him and said, "My father did me the favor of telling me about you before he died. I can pass the information to my teammates."

Ah, of course Fugaku couldn't die without informing his son about 'the sharingan thief', could he?

"What are you talking about sensei? What test?" Naruto shouted.

Kakashi took immense glee in informing them about the real genin test and the failure rates. Relishing in their dismayed looks, he told them not to eat breakfast tomorrow and pretended to leave via shunshin.

He was surprised to see the 'antisocial and loner' Uchiha take charge and bring his two teammates to Uchiha training grounds for training.

Sakura happily followed Sasuke, while Naruto grumbled all the way. On reaching their destination, Sasuke told Sakura to work on the tree walking exercise, which wasn't as surprising as seeing Sakura master it on the first try. Sasuke took it in a stride and told Sakura to continue doing it to increase her chakra reserves.

Then he turned his attention to Naruto and asked him for a spar. Naruto accepted with a vigor and made ten shadow clones to attack Sasuke, which he dispelled with ease. But Kakashi noticed something unusual about the dispelling strikes. They were aimed at the largest holes of Naruto's defense. Following this, Naruto took care to cover those areas and Sasuke proceeded to dismantle his next worst defenses. Naruto thought it to be an actual spar, but it was obvious to Kakashi's eyes. Sasuke was correcting Naruto's Taijutsu and apparently knew the secret of the shadow clone technique.

This behavior was complete opposite he had expected of Sasuke after reading his file. He was worried about an impersonator before he caught Sasuke looking at Naruto, the way he distinctly remembered Obito looking at Rin.

Holy shit.

Uchiha Sasuke had a crush on his sensei's son.

* * *

Sakura arrived at the training ground only to find Sasuke-kun and Naruto already sparring. She frowned. As much as she liked to see Sasuke-kun, even she wasn't blind enough not to see that his attention was too focused on Naruto for a simple spar. It had been the same yesterday when he took them to the Uchiha training grounds. Sasuke-kun was acting really weird. He even took Naruto for Ramen during lunch.

Could it be that he actually liked Naruto?

Hmm. It could be possible. No wonder he never responded to any of his fangirls in the academy. And Naruto-baka wasn't exactly bad to look at, if you didn't count the orange jumpsuit.

Sakura should be furious at this revelation, but she was... just not. Getting Sasuke-kun's affections had been a way to win over Ino and to make Sasuke-kun happy. This way neither Ino nor Sakura was winning and Naruto actually made Sasuke-kun happy. The gloom he had carried in his eyes was nowhere to see.

Spending time with Naruto also made Sasuke-kun nicer. He didn't scowl even once when he told her about the tree climbing exercise yesterday and even complimented her when she succeeded.

She should probably stop uselessly pursuing Sasuke-kun. She might even become his friend if she stopped being his fangirl.

Sakura decided to work on the tree climbing exercise while waiting for Kakashi sensei, while being careful not to overdo it. Sasuke-kun had told them that Kakashi_sensei had a habit to arrive late everywhere, but he was also very strong. It wouldn't do much good to be chakra exhausted while fighting him.

Kakashi_sensei arrived five hours late. Thankfully (taking Sasuke-kun's advice) she had eaten breakfast, and by the looks of it so had Naruto and Sasuke-kun.

"You decided to ignore my order, then" Sensei admonished them.

"Was it an order? I thought you only suggested it." Sasuke-kun responded.

Kakashi-sensei decided to move on and showed them two bells, " Only those who would get the bells would be real genin. You have till noon. Start."

Sakura's heart sank at those words, until Sasuke-kun grabbed both Naruto and her and leapt back from the clearing.

"What the hell, bastard?" Naruto shouted.

"He is tricking us. There are no three-men genin teams and none of us alone can defeat him. We need to work together." Sasuke-kun calmly explained.

Naruto was about to protest but one look from Sakura kept him quite.

"So, what's the plan?" she asked.

The plan was simple. Naruto would use his clones, Sasuke-kun would use his great fireball technique while Sakura would sneak in, suppressing her chakra and get the bells.

It obviously didn't work out and all three of them ended up being tied to a tree. Although, Kakashi-sensei was apparently impressed by their teamwork and decided to pass them.

Following which, he gave them a speech about the importance of teamwork, told them to meet him tomorrow morning at training ground 13 and disappeared with a shunshin.

"Sakura-chan, let's go for Ramen to celebrate, dattebayo." Naruto said, as soon as they were free.

She wanted to hit him over the head for making Sasuke-kun think that she was stealing Naruto form him. She had an idea though.

"Only if we all go together. As a team." she replied.

"Yatta." Naruto jumped in excitement, as Sasuke-kun raised an eyebrow at her. She slightly tilted her head towards Naruto, who was skipping ahead. A surprised look crossed over his face, before he gave her a nod and followed after Naruto

'This is going to be awesome' her inner yaoi fangirl squealed .


	2. Charming the Dobe

Naruto decided that although he liked his teammates, they were really weird. Sasuke-teme acted really nice with him and even praised him after sparring, which he noticed was actually improving his Taijutsu. Sakura-chan always tried to tell him how great the teme was. And Kakashi-sensei told him about perverts, molesters and danger signs. Naruto lived in the red light district dammit, he already knew about those.

But the strangest thing that happened was when Sasuke stopped him after a mission, asking, "I'm making tomato ramen today. Would you like to come to dinner?"

The teme had apparently figured out his weakness to Ramen and Naruto had no choice but to say yes.

They walked to Sasuke's apartment which was in the nice part of the town. Naruto noticed that Sasuke wasn't as tense as he used to be in the academy. His face was relaxed which apparently suited him as it didn't make him look like the absolute teme he was.

"I've never had tomato ramen before." Naruto commented, when they entered the apartment.

"Tomato is my favorite food." Was that a blush on his face?

Despite his flaws, it turned out that teme was an excellent cook. The ramen was as good as ichiraku's. Naruto had eaten his fill and was rubbing his stomach contentedly when Sasuke spoke up.

"So, why do you like Sakura so much?"

"What do you mean? She's so pretty and smart?" It was obvious, isn't it?

"That's it?" He frowned.

Naruto thought about it. "Well, she was really nice to me. Before the academy, I mean. She played with me the park one day, when no one else would. Then when we entered the academy, she didn't even remember me. I just want to be acknowledged by her."

He looked at Sasuke warily, waiting for him to make fun of him for being silly, but he was just looking intently at Naruto.

"I cannot give you Sakura's acknowledgement, but I can give you mine. You are Uzumaki Naruto, a ninja of Konoha and my best friend."

"Best friend?" he asked, baffled.

"You don't see me having any other friends except you, do you?"

"I didn't know we were friends, teme." He hadn't wanted to assume.

"So you regularly go to stranger's apartments to eat ramen, dobe?" he asked, smiling. He looked even prettier than Sakura-chan when he smiled. Naruto felt a fluttery feeling in his stomach.

Did he eat too much ramen?

* * *

Sasuke glared at Tazuna as he insulted Naruto. Again. They were traveling to Wave, the same as last time, with pace slow enough that a tortoise could outpace them. Despite that inconvenience, along with lying about the mission, Tazuna had the guts to insult Naruto again and again. Had he been like this last time, too?

"If you don't shut up, you don't have to worry about bandits, Tazuna. I'll take pleasure in killing you." Sasuke told him, unable to stay silent any longer.

"Maa, we don't threaten to kill the client Sasuke, no matter how much they irritate us. Tazuna-san, don't worry, Sasuke won't kill you." Kakashi said, without looking up from his book.

"What's got your panties in a bunch, teme?" Naruto asked, in his ever eloquent manner.

It was true Sasuke was in a bad mood since they received this mission. He had assumed that with all the changes that he had made in their team dynamics and training, Naruto wouldn't get impatient enough to demand this mission from the Sandaime. But apparently Sasuke had the luck of a rotten tomato and they had received the exact same mission. He had been unable to form any excuses that would get them out of it.

Not that he was afraid of facing Zabuza. He was confident that he could easily defeat the Demon of the Mist. He just didn't want to display his advanced abilities to Kakashi, who was already suspicious of him and tried his best to keep Naruto away from him.

They passed the same puddle they had last time and Sasuke readied himself. He wouldn't let Naruto get hurt this time.

Soon enough, the Demon Brothers came out of the puddle and sent their chains towards Kakashi, Sasuke quickly threw four kunai in succession, which after ricocheting with each other were buried in the missing ninja's skulls.

There was a moment of silence, before Kakashi said, "Good work, Sasuke. Although, try to capture next time. Now we wouldn't know who they were after." His voice was a little strained, probably remembering Itachi's skill in shuriken-jutsu.

Naruto and Sakura were understandably green after witnessing their first murder.

They continued onward and reached the island after a boat ride. The mist was thick and Sasuke was anticipating Zabuza's attack. He had decided to let it play out the same as last time. Kakashi would surely send him to T and I if he defeated one of the seven swordsmen as a genin.

It did play out the same as last time, except that Sasuke's shuriken actually hit Zabuza. The wound would give Kakashi an advantage in their next fight.

They reached Tazuna's house with an unconscious Kakashi and Sasuke told Naruto to set up an perimeter around the house. Just because nothing happened last time didn't mean he would pass off an opportunity to teach them about proper mission protocols, even though it was Kakashi's job.

It was late in the night when Naruto walked up to him, and tried to say something before closing his mouth again.

The dobe wasactually hesitating about saying something?

"What is it, Naruto?"

"How did you do it? Kill those ninjas?"

"With shuriken-jutsu. Do you wish to learn?" It would be a bit difficult, since Naruto never had much of an aim.

"No. I mean, how did you kill them? Did you... I... I don't think I'll be able to do it." he whispered the last part.

Oh.

"Then don't." he told Naruto. "You don't have to kill if you don't want to. You heard Kakashi-sensei, there are ways to capture enemies. You don't have to become something you're not, just to give the illusion of being stronger."

Naruto gave him a small smile at that. A real one. Not one of the fake grins he usually wore. "Thanks, Sasuke."

"Anytime." he responded, honestly.

A week passed. Kakashi had them practicing water walking as all three of them already knew tree waking. Naruto exhausted himself on the last day, leading to him sleeping in and they left for the bridge without him.

Kakashi and Zabuza had a pissing contest, then Kakashi told him to fight the masked in, whom he had already captured in a genjutsu. Sasuke didn't give him the time to put up his ice mirrors and promptly knocked him out.

Kakashi's fight with Zabuza continued, and Naruto entered just in time to see Zabuza defeated.

Gato made his entry and explained his ridiculous plan to con his hired ninja, which Zabuza took offence to, and decimated his army, without dying this time. He took the ice user's prone form and promptly disappeared.

Naruto had apparently made friends with the ice user, whose name was Haku, and was sad that he didn't get to say goodbye.

The bridge was again named 'The Great Naruto Bridge', because Naruto's ability to inspire people couldn't get disrupted by something as lowly as butterfly effect.

* * *

"No." Sasuke answered. His tone indicating that nothing would change his answer.

"Excuse me?" Kakashi asked, surprised.

"We won't be entering. We are not ready. We graduated just six months ago and have only one C Rank under our belt. Even Itachi was a genin for two years before entering chunnin exams." said his Uchiha student.

This really wasn't the outcome Kakashi had anticipated when he decided to enter his team in the chunnin exams. He had expected Sakura to be hesitant, not Sasuke, who was already chunnin level. And that last bit about casually mentioning his homicidal brother... Hmm. Something was definitely fishy here. He decided to ignore his suspicions for now, in favor of he current argument.

"You're sure about this, Sasuke? Because this is team exam, if one of you doesn't come, the whole team wouldn't be able to enter." He said, having a hard time hiding his glee. Naruto would never forgive Sasuke for ruining his chances promotion and thus his innocence would remain safe from the Uchiha.

"What?" Naruto was predictably outraged. "Sasuke please tell me you were just joking and you'll come to the exams." He pleaded.

Sasuke, who apparently had figured out Kakashi's plan, gave him a stink eye and turned towards Naruto, "I'm sorry. We can compete in the next exams, six months later. We'll train hard for for it and..."

"I don't want to train with a coward." Naruto shouted and left.

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose and asked Kakashi, "If that's all?"

"Oh.. huh.. Yes, dismissed." He said, as he returned his attention to his precious Icha Icha.

The next morning, he found all three of his students in the training ground, which was definitely not the exam venue, in a free for all spar.

He waited for the spar to end (in Sasuke's favor, as usual) before asking, addressing Naruto," So, you two made up then?" He tried not to let his disappointment show in his voice, but apparently Sasuke picked up on it and sent him a smirk.

"He made me tomato ramen." Naruto said in lieu of explanation.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Since one of Sasuke's reasons for not competing in chunnin exams was lack of C ranks, I've picked up a bunch of them for us. If we are quick we might even get back to Konoha to see the tournament finals."

That seemed to shake off all of their exhaustion and Naruto cheered, "We will, believe it."

Naruto was correct in his optimistic approach and (with vigorous use of shadow clones) they were back in Konoha one day before the tournament. Kakashi treated his students by buying them all tickets and the next day they were all seated together in the stadium.

Kakashi looked at the match roaster which only had six competitors - Guy's team and a team from Suna. He had heard from jonin gossip that the majority had been filtered out during the first test by Ibiki.

The first match began with Mini Guy vs Gaara of Sand.

Kakashi knew Lee was a pure taijutsu type since he couldn't use chakra, and it looked like Gaara had a sand defence mechanism. It came down to their speed, which seemed equal until Lee removed his weights and opened the first gate, surprising Kakashi. He wasn't aware that Guy had taught his student about those.

Lee was able to get a solid hit on Gaara, breaking his nose, which seemed to make him crazy and demand Lee's blood.

Suddenly, Kakashi felt a genjutsu trying to make him sleep, which he dispelled from him and his students. Gaara was releasing killing intent in the arena and transforming into the Ichibi and foreign ninja were losing their civilian disguises and attacking the leaf ninja.

This was an invasion.


	3. Protecting the Dobe

Sasuke knew that telling the Sandaime about the invasion, wouldn't change anything. According to Orochimaru, he had known about it the first time and decided to spring the trap, instead of thinking of safety of Konoha's citizens. It was the last of the line of bad decisions the Sandaime had made as a Hokage. That was another reason he hadn't cared to inform anyone. The Sandaime had to go. At least Tsunade was a decent Hokage.

Sasuke hadn't prevented the invasion, but he could mitigate the damage. He leapt into the arena, in front of Shukaku, despite Kakashi's indistinct shout. Activating his Mangekyou Sharingan he willed himself into Gaara's seal. This was much easier than the one time he had tried to take control of the Kyuubi. It made sense since Shukaku only had one tail.

In no time at all, he was able to subdue the Ichibi and returned back to the real world to find Gaara human again and sleeping, who was quickly taken in custody by a jonin with senbon in his mouth.

"Go to your team captain and get further orders. Good job." he said to Sasuke.

Sasuke went back to the stands to find Kakashi fighting Sound ninja. Familiar with their fighting style, Sasuke was able to help Kakashi quickly dispose of them.

"Where are Naruto and Sakura?"

"They are helping in evacuation like other sensible genin." he said, pointedly.

"Would you have preferred to let the Ichibi rampage?" Sasuke asked.

"It doesn't matter now. Go towards the exits and find your team. Protect them." he ordered.

"Hai." Sasuke had no problem obeying that order.

The invasion was over in no time. The Sand and Sound forces were nothing against leaf ninja in their home turf, who were informed about the possibility of invasion beforehand. He couldn't be sure, but the damage was less than the last time, especially the damage caused by Gaara. There was still a chunk of the village wall missing, the place from where Orochimaru's three headed snake had entered. The Sandaime was still dead, of which Naruto got to hear first hand, rather than after a night in the hospital.

Seeing his grief, Sasuke wondered if he had made the right decision. He tried to comfort Naruto, in he which wasn't very successful.

"I'm sure he is happier now. There isn't any paperwork in hell." he offered, which seemed to make Naruto cry even harder.

* * *

Itachi felt his otouto's chakra signature in the same room as the Naruto-kun. On one hand this would give him an opportunity to delay kidnapping Naruto-kun, on the other hand, he'd have to hurt Sasuke again. He sighed and quickly suppressed his chaotic emotions behind his mask before knocking on the door.

After a moment it was opened by Sasuke, who didn't look even a bit disturbed at seeing him.

"Hi, nii-san. Long time no see." he greeted with a smile. "Nice nail polish... and ring... and cloak. Oh my God, you've become a complete hippie, haven't you? Tou-san would be so disappointed."

Judging by Kisame's choked laugh he found it funny.

Itachi barely managed to not let his surprise show. "Seeing as I've already killed him, it is a moot point." The reminder of the massacre also didn't affect Sasuke's cheery disposition. Strange.

"Step aside, foolish little brother. I'm not here for you, but your teammate."

"You are not getting Naruto." said Sasuke, with steel in his voice, all humour gone. It seemed Naruto-kun meant more to his brother than just a teammate.

"I suppose, you'll try to stop me?" Itachi asked, condescendingly.

"I will." Sasuke answered, activating his Sharingan which changed into a star shaped pattern.

"You've finally acquired the Mangekyou, then. Who did you kill, little brother?" He asked, both relieved and troubled at this revelation.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" his otouto answered, a smirk forming on his face.

"You should get out of the way, brat, before I cut off your legs, Itachi-san's brother or not." Kisame interjected.

It took a subtle glare from Itachi to shut him up.

"Your boyfriend?" Sasuke asked. "Looks rather whipped."

Itachi had to struggle not to pinch the bridge of his nose, as Kisame growled. Today had to be the day for Sasuke to develop a rather disturbing sense of humor.

Instead he activated his Mangekyou and caught Sasuke in Tsukiyomi. He needed to be reminded to hate him, to become stronger.

He was surprised again, when Sasuke took control of the Tsukiyomi. He didn't think that Sasuke would have gained such experience with his Mangekyou Sharingan, so soon. He hoped his little brother wasn't overusing it. It wouldn't do for him to become blind before Itachi could give him his eyes.

"I'm honestly tired of this. You have to do this every time we meet?" Sasuke asked.

"You seemed to have let go of your hatred. You need to be reminded..." Itachi began, only to be cut off again.

"Nii-san, I know. About Danzo, the coup, Shisui, Madara. Everything. I just want you to know that I forgive you and that I won't be killing you."

It took Itachi a moment to collect himself. "I don't know what delusions you have..." he started and was cut off again.

"Yeah. I knew you'd say something like this and I don't want to hear it. So, just think about coming back to Konoha, all right?" Sasuke said and somehow shattered the tsukiyomi.

The backlash led to him falling to his knees in the real world.

"Itachi-san?" Kisame asked, half-in-concern and half-bewildered.

"We're leaving." he answered, sensing Jiraiya-sama approaching.

He took a last look at Sasuke, who had somehow grown up when he wasn't looking, and left.

* * *

Jiraiya wasn't exactly thrilled about letting the Uchiha brat come for the mission to get Tsunade, especially after Kakashi told him about his unhealthy interest in his godson, but he didn't have a choice.

When the Uchiha had found out that Naruto was going on the mission, he had the gall to come to him and demand to take him too, saying that he didn't trust Jiraiya alone with Naruto, given his reputation as a pervert; which was outrageous since Jiraiya liked mature women, not little boys, especially not his godson. But refusing would be almost as good as accepting the label of pedophile, so he had to let the Uchiha come too.

Granted he had proven himself quite capable on the trip. He had somehow managed to protect Naruto from his S rank missing nin brother and his S rank partner, long enough for Jiraiya to arrive. He even helped Naruto get in touch with the Kyuubi in order to harness its power.

And hadn't that been a heartfelt moment, the Uchiha telling Naruto that he knew about his burden and didn't think any differently of him. The resultant hug had Jiraiya torn between protecting his godson's innocence and taking out his notebook and writing down the plot for icha-icha yaoi.

(He took out his notebook in the end. He had a duty as a writer to provide the best for his fans and it wasn't like Naruto was going to remain innocent for long.)

Now, after days of searching they had finally found Tsunade in Tanazuka-Gai.

Entering the bar with his two tag-alongs, Jiraiya made his way over to Tsunade's table and greeted them, earning a scowl from her.

"Tsunade. It's been a long time." He greeted.

"Not long enough." Tsunade replied, as they slid into the bench opposite to her. " Why is that today is the day that both of my idiot teammates decide to visit me?"

"Orochimaru is here? What did he want?"

"Nothing important. What do you want?"

"I have some good news for you. You've been nominated as the Godaime Hokage of Konoha." He announced with flair.

"Impossible. I refuse. Anyone who takes the job dies. And I'm enjoying life." She replied, as predicted, taking a drink from her mug.

Naruto looked ready to burst into a speech about disrespecting the Hokage, as he was interrupted by his dark haired teammate.

"Itachi wanted to become Hokage. He used to tell me that he would work for attaining peace between the elemental countries, if he became Hokage. Do you you think he would made it, if he had... you know, not gone crazy?"

Jiraiya gaped at the Uchiha for a moment, before catching on and replying," I think so, kid. He was definitely on sensei's shortlist."

Tsunade squinted at the brat. "You are that last Uchiha brat, aren't you?"

"Second last, technically." he said, dryly.

This was followed by a stare off between the two. Jiraiya could practically hear the thoughts going through Tsunade's head.

Sasuke had lost much more than she had, in a single night, when he wasn't even a Shinobi. And yet, not only he was serving Konoha as a dutiful ninja, he was also able to overcome his grief enough to casually talk about the murderer of his clan. While Tsunade, who was a veteran ninja, drank and gambled and wasted her life away, alongside harboring crippling hemophobia.

As added bonus, the brat was an Uchiha, the ancient rival of Tsunade's clan.

The kid really was a pro at manipulation.

"All right. I'll accept the position." Tsunade said, grudgingly. "Let's get Shizune, then we'll leave. Screw Orochimaru."


	4. Shaking Things Up

Sasuke was brooding. Naruto had just informed team 7 that he would be going on a three year long training trip with Jiraiya. Sasuke couldn't believe how stupid he had been, thinking that him not going to Orochimaru would somehow keep Naruto in Konoha. Naruto had left Konoha because of the threat of Akatsuki, not because Sasuke went to Orochimaru.

And this time his attention would not be on Sasuke or how to get him back. Perhaps he could run off to Oto again... Nah, not worth it.

He knew Jiraiya wouldn't allow him to tag along this time.

Maybe he could try some other way to keep Naruto's attention on him for the next three years.

He went with Kakashi and Sakura to see Naruto off at the gates. He was there, standing beside Jiraiya, looking stupidly short in his oversized orange jumpsuit.

Sakura gave him a hug and a first aid kit. Kakashi tried to act nonchalant and gave him a kunai pack with a pat on his head. Naruto turned to look towards Sasuke and he stepped forward.

"I don't have anything to give you." he confessed. He was too busy trying to come up with a plan to accompany Naruto.

Naruto carefully wiped his disappointment from his face and gave him big smile, " 'S all right, teme. I don't need anything."

"Three years is a long time, though. You should have something to remember me by."

Naruto looked confused as he lent forwards and gave him a kiss. Sasuke was pleased to note that Naruto only froze for a second before tentatively responding. It was a chaste kiss, but Sasuke couldn't help but give Naruto's lower lip a lick as they broke off.

Naruto's face was pinker than Sakura's hair, and that was saying something with his tanned skin.

"Sasuke.. what..." he began, only to be cut off by Jiraiya.

"Come on brat. We don't have enough time to satisfy you love birds. The day light's wasting." He grabbed Naruto and promptly shunshined away.

Naruto's cry of "Ero-sennin" was heard by all of them.

Sasuke then became aware of the killing intent focused on him by two sources. He glanced to see that Kakashi was one of them, who was glaring at him like he had molested Naruto in public.

The other was even more potent than Kakashi's and was coming from behind an electricity pole. He didn't need to look behind the pole to know that it was Hinata.

Sasuke decided to that it was probably best for his health if he disappeared from there.

* * *

Tsunade had barely managed to catch up on the paperwork after taking the Hokage's job, the Uchiha brat had conned her into, when he had the gall to bring her this accusation.

"Bloodline theft?" she asked dryly.

"Hai. He has a Sharingan in his bandaged eye and eleven more are implanted in his arm."

Tsunade resisted the urge to sigh. "And how would you know this?"

"Clan secret." he replied.

"You don't have a clan anymore, brat." she bit out, insensitively. He was really getting on her nerves.

"Like you don't have a clan anymore?" he was quick to retort.

Tsunade grit her teeth. It was true that she wouldn't tell her clan secrets to anyone even though she was last of her clan.

"I'm not the one making accusations against a councilor. You've got to give me something better than 'clan secrets' to start an investigation."

"You simply have to ask him to remove his bandages. And just so you know, the Konoha charter states that all accusations of bloodline theft have to investigated." he said, walking away.

"Shizune, get me the Konoha charter." Tsunade shouted.

It turned out that the brat was right, on both counts. Stating the clause from the Konoha charter, she was able to arrest Danzo under suspicion and get his bandages removed. The gruesome site revealed was something she'd pay to forget.

This further steamrolled investigation into Danzo's actions and six months later Tsunade was stewing in her office, wondering what to do with all those brainwashed, socially incompetent, little ninjas who were formerly loyal to Danzo, who's autopsy had revealed that his bloodline theft wasn't limited to the Uchiha clan. She wanted to bring him back from the dead, only to painfully kill him again for desecrating her grandfather's grave.

And all this was without touching the clusterfuck that was the Uchiha massacre.

The door of her office opened, and the cause of all her problems entered with his arrogant Uchiha gait.

"You summoned, Hokage-sama?"

"You knew." she accused.

"Pardon?" he had the audacity to raise an eyebrow.

"You knew that Danzo was behind your clan's massacre." she elaborated.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Hokage-sama." He lied with a straight face.

"Very well." Tsunade said. "I've chosen you to be my apprentice."

"Isn't Sakura your apprentice?"

"I'm capable of having more than one apprentice. Report to training ground 3 at 6 am tomorrow. Dismissed."

"Hai." he said, walking away, gait not as confident as the one he entered with.

Tsunade cracked her knuckles. The Uchiha was going to pay for making her go through all this.

* * *

Sasuke was hurting. He was hurting in places he didn't know could hurt. He was hurting in places he didn't know existed.

Perhaps, in retrospection, it wasn't one of his best ideas to piss of Senju Tsunade.

"Stop whining and start healing yourself, Sasuke-kun." Sakura admonished.

"I really can't concerntrate enough to form healing chakra. Couldn't you heal me?"

"You know what happened when Shishou found out last time."

Sasuke shuddered.

That was when Shizune appeared. "You've been summoned, Sasuke-kun." That was definitely a smirk she was wearing. Having Tsunade as a Shishou might have rubbed some sadistic tendencies onto her.

Sasuke painfully and with much effort pulled himself on his feet. Shizune was not completely corrupted by Tsunade, as she was kind enough to heal him.

He entered Tsunade's office to find Itachi standing there, without his Akatsuki cloak.

Tsunade didn't wait for him to greet her. "I am going to blame the massacre on Danzo and announce that Itachi was not involved and took the blame in order to spy on Akatsuki. But, apparently, he thinks that your feelings on the subject are more important than his Kage's orders. So, tell him you are okay with this." she ordered.

"I'm okay with this." he said, looking at Itachi.

"Sasuke, are you sure?" Itachi asked, looking at him curiously, trying to figure him out by a glance.

Heh, good luck with that nii-san.

"Yes, of course." he answered, then looked at Tsunade. "If that's all?"

She nodded. "Get out of here, brat. And if you don't memorize the poison effects by tomorrow, today would seem like a picnic."

Sasuke nodded and shunshined to his apartment. He sat down on the bed and tried to comprehend what had happened.

Itachi had actually come back to Konoha.

Granted, Sasuke had told him to think about doing exactly that and had also exposed Danzo's actions to Tsunade, he really hadn't been expecting Itachi to actually return to Konoha as a Konoha ninja, with the massacre cleared off his record.

Would Itachi be living with him? We wasn't sure if he was ready for that. He had forgiven Itachi, but he still had nightmares about him, his Tsukiyomi, and his death. He would have been able to endure it had Naruto been here, but now...

No, nii-san would have to get himself an apartment.

Wait, was Itachi still his nii-san? Mentally, he was a older than Itachi. He was Itachi's nii-san, then? Kuso! that made him feel old.

He decided to stop thinking about time travelling sibling relations and opened up a scroll to learn about different poisonous plants in fire country and their effects on human body. He resisted the urge to use his sharingan to memorize it. He backside was still sore from the kick Tsunade had given him, the first and last time he had done that.

* * *

It had been one week since the announcement of Itachi's innocence and Sasuke was about to go mad. He had being harassed by fangirls no matter where he went, all offering their sympathies and trying to cheer him up. It was even worse than after the massacre. As if Sasuke's fangirls hadn't been enough, even Itachi's fangirls tried to seek him out to find out Itachi's whereabouts, which he would gladly have given out in revenge, had he known where he was.

The truth was that Sasuke had not seen the hide or hair of Itachi since that meeting in Hokage tower. He would never admit it but he was hurt. It was just like before the massacre. Itachi had time for everything except Sasuke.

He had stopped expecting him to visit and was thereby surprised at the knock on his door at 11 pm. He opened the door to find his brother at his doorstep.

"I'm sorry about the late arrival, Sasuke. Tsunade-sama is very difficult to bypass during the day." he apologized.

Sasuke waved it off. "It's fine. I was just studying. And why do you have to bypass Tsunade?" he asked, beckoning him inside.

Itachi glanced at his thick tomes, approvingly and answered, "She's overseeing my treatment."

Sasuke felt his eyes widen. He couldn't believe he had forgotten about Itachi's unknown disease, even after he was studying medicine, day and night.

Itachi, being the genius that he was, apparently figured something out from his expression.

"How old are you, Sasuke?" he asked.

"Shouldn't you know that?"

"Should I?" he retorted, calmly.

Sasuke sighed. So much for keeping it secret.

"Twenty Two." he answered.

"You're older than me." Itachi said, almost in wonder.

"No, I'm not. You were born before me, therefore you are older." Sasuke insisted. He could never tolerate it if Itachi started calling him nii-san.

"Of course, otouto." he smiled. "Care to tell me what happened in your time line?"

Sasuke sighed again. "It's not a happy story."

"I wouldn't expect it to be."

For the next two hours Sasuke told Itachi what exactly had happened in the original time line, in detail.

Itachi didn't judge him on running to Orochimaru or joining Akatsuki. Nor did he say anything about his death. He did widen his eyes when being told about Sasuke and Naruto loosing an arm each. He only interrupted when Sasuke got to the actual time travel.

"I've never heard of Sharingan behaving that way."

"Naruto has always been special." he replied.

Itachi raised an amused eyebrow at that. "I was assuming that it was your sharingan that was responsible for this, not Naruto-kun's."

"It happened because of Naruto."

Itachi looked like he was having a hard time keeping a nuetral face. "So what did you change after coming back?"

"Nothing much. I treated Naruto better and started training him in taijutsu..."

"I meant with major events, Sasuke." Itachi was definitely smiling now.

"Oh. I didn't get bitten by Orochimaru and snuck off to Oto?" he offered.

Itachi sighed. "Good enough, I suppose."

* * *

Itachi was glad that he had talked to Sasuke before delivering his report on Akatsuki. His mind was still reeling from the information he had been provided by Sasuke. (He still was baffled about the time travel. He had his suspicions, but to actually have them confirmed was unsettling. And to think that Sasuke was older than him...)

He knocked on the door of the Hokage's office, just before the appointed time of two in the morning.

"Come in." He opened the door to find Tsunade-sama reading mission reports. "We are waiting for Jiraiya." She told him, without looking up.

In about ten minutes, Jiraiya-sama entered the Hokage's office through the window. "What was so important that I had to leave the brat alone for the night, hime?" He asked, before catching sight of Itachi, his eyes widening, "Oh? This should be interesting."

"Jiraiya-sama. I'm here to give my report on my five year long subterfuge mission as an Akatsuki member." Itachi offered, even though he knew that Jiraya had already guessed.

"What's their goal?" He cut straight to the point.

"It's complicated. Every one is there for their own agendas. However, it's safe to say that if they continue unchecked, they'll destroy the world as we know it."

Jiriaya's eyes narrowed and Tsunade-sama looked up from her paperwork.

"Explain." She ordered.

Itachi was happy to comply. He told them everything he had gathered and everything Sasuke had told him, carefully doctoring the information to not raise any flags. He put extra emphasis on Pain's strength, discouraging Jiraiya to seek out his old student. Sasuke didn't need to tell him that Jiriaya's death had affected Naruto-kun a lot in the other time line. As someone very important to his brother, Itachi was also very invested in Naruto-kun's well being.

Both the sannin were understandably silent at the end of his report.

"I'm too sober for this." muttered Tsunade-sama, as she pulled out a bottle of sake and drank from it.

"It's manageable." Jiraiya tried to reassure her. "I'll increase the kid's training, maybe get the toads to teach him sage mode. Tell Kakashi to train with his Sharingan. Probably should avoid telling him that Obito is alive and responsible for Minato's death." He growled.

"We'll have to tell other nations about the threat. If what you said about the Uchiha tablet is true, the recreation of juubi would be disastrous." Tsunade-sama spoke up.

"See, hime? It's manageable." Jiraiya said exuberantly. Instead of cheering the Hokage as intended, it seemed to further irritate her.

"You damned well don't get any ideas to hunt them out alone, Jiraya." She growled.

"Of course. Of course. I'm too young to die, Tsunade-hime. I even have a new book coming up." He replied, placating her.

Itachi wondered why he had a sudden urge to castrate Jiraya.


	5. Making Chunnin

Naruto tried to take in everything around him all at once. Suna was the only other Ninja village he had been in, besides Konoha. Besides ,he was excited to meet Sakura, Kakashi and... (blush) Sasuke again for the chunnin exams. He hadn't seen them in over a year and Sasuke had promised him that they would become chunnin for sure in their first attempt at the exams. He definitely wasn't excited to see him again for any other reason.

(He totally was, he thought, as he remembered Sasuke's farewell kiss)

Naruto fought hard to contain his blush as the thought passed through his head. He still hadn't managed to figure it out after even a year. Sasuke was his friend, his best friend, his rival, while Sakura was the one he liked. The problem was that he wasn't sure anymore. Jiraiya wasn't helpful at all in that matter and his recently published Icha Icha Yaoi (which he had to edit) only made things worse. the main characters being suspiciously similar to Naruto and Sasuke.

He was lost in thought when he bumped into a someone. That got Naruto's head out of the clouds and he looked to find a red headed boy glaring murderously at him.

"Aah, I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going." He apologized. He was about to ask if he was okay when the fox spoke up.

Brat, be careful. That's Shukaku's jinchiruchi. And my outoto isn't known for leaving his containers in the best mental state.

Naruto stopped himself from answering aloud. He and Kurama were on quite amicable terms after Sasuke introduced them through his Sharingan and Naruto was able to befriend him through his never ending persistence. He still hadn't perfected the silent mental conservation, though.

Keeping in mind the Kyuubi's advice, Narutocarefullyhugged the redhead.

"I'm so glad to meet another jinchiruchi like me." He crowed happily.

The other boy however stiffened in his arms and Naruto felt sand creeping up his legs.

You idiot boy!!!

In his defense, Naruto didn't really think that 'not the best mental state' would mean downright murder happy and blood thirsty.

In the end they managed to ruin the entire training ground, traumatize various nearby civilians and ninja alike, and managed to become best of friends after Naruto was able to make Gaara understand the power of friendship and love by repeatedly punching his face.

Ero sennin took one look at them and decided to hit the bar early in the afternoon.

* * *

Sasuke would forever deny that he grinned non stop for a day when he learned that team 7 would be participating in the Suna chunnin exams .However, He couldn't escape Sakura's knowing looks and Kakashi's murderous glares as they travelled to Suna.

He hadn't seen Naruto in over a year and neither had he hoped that he'd get to see him before his training trip was over. Therefore as soon as they entered Suna's gates, Sasuke broke away from the Konoha contingent and went in search of Naruto. As expected, Sakura and Kakashi followed him. They were at their fourth ramen stand when Sasuke spotted the familiar head of blonde hair. What wasn't familiar was the raccoon eyed red head sitting next to him, taking in every word Naruto said about ramen flavours like they were truths of gospel.

Sasuke felt a green monster rearing his ugly head inside him.

Naruto had noticed them and happily shouted, "Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei." It was followed by a quieter and more hesitant "Teme."

Sasuke tried to maintain his confident smirk as he replied, "Dobe", which got a small smile from the object of his affections.

Kakashi was apparently was equally hostile all boys that demanded Naruto's attention, and the Suna jinchiruchi was quickly dragged into a harsh interrogation about his meeting and intentions with Naruto.

Sakura, bless her, made an excuse about shopping and left, not before sending a wink towards Sasuke. Thus, Naruto and him were left alone at the table, an empty bowl of ramen between them. Even after just a year, Naruto had lost some of his baby fat and gained some height and muscles that Sasuke couldn't help but appreciate. He still looked adorable with his scarred cheeks tinged pink.

"Konoha isn't the same without you." Sasuke couldn't help but say.

He was rewarded with red cheeks. "Shut up, teme. You can't say things like that. Or kiss me out of the blue."

Sasuke smirked, hiding his nervousness. "Why? Didn't you like it?"

Naruto sputtered, but thankfully didn't deny liking the kiss. Though his argument was fair. It wasn't gentlemanly of Sasuke to kiss him without taking him out for dinner.

"Would you come with me on a date?" He asked, shocking both himself and Naruto for a second, who nodded after a second, his cheeks bright red.

Sasuke was about to tease him further when they were interrupted by Kakashi and Gaara, both of whom were glaring at Sasuke.

Sasuke decided the best course of action would be to make himself scarce along with Naruto, starting their date a little early.

He quickly suppressed his panic because of not having anything planned and being second best to Gaara who had already taken Naruto to ramen.

In the end their impromptu date ended up including sparring, building sand castles, dango, ramen and the entire chunnin exams ( even though Sakura ended up being the third wheel during the exams).

It goes without saying that all three of them left Suna with chunnin vests and Sasuke with a completely unprompted kiss from Naruto.

* * *

"You want me to do what?" Sasuke couldn't contain the incredulity in his tone.

"Play snake bait." Tsunade answered bluntly, while Sakura tried to hide her amusement, unsuccessfully. This was one of the few times Sasuke actually missed Itachi these days. His brother definitely would have voiced his concerns over this stupid plan. Unfortunately for Sasuke, Itachi was god knew where with his ANBU team, on the mission to systematically getting rid of Akatsuki.

Sasuke's time with Orochimaru was something he wished to be permanently bleached from his brain. He didn't like to remember that he had been once desperate enough to wear that god awful outfit. It definitely wasn't an experience he cared to repeat. Unfortunately, Tsunade had other ideas.

"Orochimaru has been sending teams to capture you for years. He is obviously very interested in capturing you. This is the perfect opportunity for Konoha to uncover his bases." The Hokage continued, ignoring Sasuke's rapidly paling face. "You will be accompanying Team 10 on an escort mission to the Land of Sound. Orochimaru would not resist the bait that close to home."

Before Sasuke could claim that he already knew about all of Orochimaru's hideouts, and dig himself a deeper hole, he was physically dragged from the Hokage office by his ever helpful pink haired teammate.

"Let me go, Sakura." He growled, trying unsuccessfully to free himself from her grip. "I don't care what the hag says, I'm not playing bait for that creep."

Still not releasing her grip, Sakura answered, "First of all, that hag is your Hokage. It's your job description to do as she says. Secondly, don't let her hear you call her that. Her leniency exists only to Naruto on this matter, for some reason. And thirdly, think of this mission this way. Naruto is currently in the Land of Sound with Jiraiya-sama, trying to find Orochimaru's bases. Guess who is going to be your backup after you let yourself be captured for the greater good of Konoha?" She finished, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

Sasuke ceased his struggle at that. That was a pretty good incentive. It had been quite a few months since he had seen Naruto at the Suna chunnin exams. And Naruto coming to rescue him at Orochimaru's hideout would be trip down the nostalgia lane. He kind of missed those days of Naruto chasing after him.

He had already killed Orochimaru once, he could do it again. It wasn't like he was in any real danger of being given the hickey again.

"Sure, why not?" He answered Sakura, trying to ignore the manic gleam in her eyes. "What could go wrong ?"

He was so going to regret those words later.

* * *

Apparently, a lot could go wrong. If he got out of this somehow, Sasuke would never tempt fate that way.

Everything had been going well and according to the plan until Sasuke realized that Kabuto was an even sneakier bastard than he remembered and was apparently capable of drugging Sasuke up to the eyeballs and handing him over to Akatsuki.

Even Akatsuki seemed a lot more hostile than he remembered being. Maybe it was something to do with his brother's defection.

"So, how is Itachi-san doing these days? Same as always I suppose. Once a traitor, always a traitor." The shark man taunted as his sword shaved skin off Sasuke's arm.

"Leader-sama wants him alive." Admonished his weird looking puppet partner. Sasuke didn't know much about him. Not that it was important. He was weak enough to be defeated by Sakura in the last timeline.

He just had to wait for the world to stop spinning and his stomach to stop trying to expel everything he has ever eaten, and his chakra to feel something like he could access. These chumps would regret ever missing with him.

Ugh.

This was going to be so embarrassing. He had been hoping to meet Naruto, looking cool and edgy, after demolishing Orochimaru's hideout single-handedly with his Kirin. He hadn't actually meant to be in a position to be needing a rescue. The only way this could get any more embarrassing was... Oh no. Not him.

"Yo." Said an annoyingly familiar voice, whose ANBU Dog mask did absolutely nothing to conceal his identity, not with those stupid grey hair. "Looks like you got yourself in pickle, Sasuke-chan." He continued talking while engaging in battle with Kisame, who didn't look any more pleased to see Kakashi than Sasuke was.

Judging by the sounds, rest of Kakashi's ANBU team, including Sasuke's brother, was there too, engaging with the previously unseen Akatsuki members.

"Just kill me now." Sasuke managed to groan out between dry heaving.

"After all the effort we've put in saving you?" The annoying voice was much closer and someone was fiddling with Saauke's restraints. "Mind you, I was all for letting you handle this yourself, but your brother was quite insistent." Kakashi shuddered.

The restraints were off. "Can you walk?" Kakashi inquired.

Apparently not because Sasuke was falling on his face as soon as the support was gone.

"What do you think?" He bit out at his sensei.

"Awww. Don't worry Sasuke-chan. Sensei is here to take care of you." Kakashi crooned, picking him up and carrying him like a damsel.

Sasuke wished for the earth to open up and swallow him whole.

* * *

Shikamaru observed Uchiha Sasuke being fretted over by his brother anxiously. Not that he was obvious about it. But Shikamaru, being smarter than most, knew how to pick up subtle cues, especially if the other party wasn't trying too hard to hide them. He was surprised at the amount of concern shown and tolerated, given the history between those two.

Shikamaru didn't like being surprised. As a Nara, he prided himself on his ability to predict possible scenarios. But Sasuke had done nothing but surprise him, ever since the day of team selection 3 years ago. His sudden shift in attitude, increased interest in Naruto, and rapid surge in abilities, initially led Shikamaru to suspect him being replaced by a decoy. Though, upon further observation, he didn't a change in base personalities.

The further revelation of Uchiha Itachi being innocent of the massacre of his clan, and about Danzo's machinations, threw more doubt on Shikamaru's suppossed predictions. Knowing that his father wasn't as aware about the mystery of Uchiha massacre as he pretended to be, did nothing to lift Shikamaru's spirits. Apparently, he had slacked off a little too much.

This was the reason that Shikamaru had volunteered to obtain the mission report from Sasuke, while he was indisposed in the hospital. He had a hunch that figuring out Sasuke was the key to unraveling this string of surprises.

Unsurprisingly, both the Uchihas had noticed his presence and were waiting for him to announce himself. He hesitantly entered the room, knowing he had interrupted a private moment.

"Are you well enough to give a verbal report?" ,he asked, lazily.

Sasuke scoffed. "I have been perfectly capable of giving a report since the moment I returned to Konoha."

Itachi raised an eyebrow at that. "Really, little brother? I wasn't aware you were capable of giving reports while unconscious."

This caused Sasuke to scowl and turn to Shikamaru. "You didn't have to come here. I am well enough to go to the tower now."

"Against Tsunade-sam's orders?" Shikamaru was quick to point out.

Sasuke didn't have a reply to that.

An hour later, Shikamaru left with a mission report, and more questions that answers. Judging by his haphazard report, Sasuke had more experience giving mission reports than he should, but it was of a more unorderly and amateur style, not the standard Konoha format. Furthermore, while Sasuke obviously cared for his brother (the sentiment being returned), the way his eyes tracked Itachi whenever he went out of his visual field, told that trust was still an issue between the brothers. Which should be expected, given that Sasuke wasn't aware of Itachi being a spy and had spent years of his life hating the man, except that Sasuke wasn't mature or confident enough to be around someone he doesn't trust. Neither should he be able to withstand the torture methods applied on him by the Akatsuki ( which wasn't hollow boasting as his wounds matched up to his story).

Just what had happened to the Uchiha Sasuke he knew in the Academy to make him grow up so much, so fast?


End file.
